As early as the twelfth century A.D., the settlements of Chaco Canyon
in New Mexico in the American Southwest were notable for their “great
houses,” massive stone buildings that contain hundreds of rooms and
often stand three or four stories high. Archaeologists have been trying to
determine how the buildings were used. While there is still no
universally agreed upon explanation, there are three competing theories.
One theory holds that the Chaco structures were purely residential,
with each housing hundreds of people. Supporters of this theory have
interpreted Chaco great houses as earlier versions of the architecture
seen in more recent Southwest societies. In particular, the Chaco houses
appear strikingly similar to the large, well-known “apartment buildings”
at Taos, New Mexico, in which many people have been living for
centuries.
A second theory contends that the Chaco structures were used to store
food supplies. One of the main crops of the Chaco people was grain
maize, which could be stored for long periods of time without spoiling
and could serve as a long-lasting supply of food. The supplies of maize
had to be stored somewhere, and the size of the great houses would make
them very suitable for the purpose.
A third theory proposes that houses were used as ceremonial centers.
Close to one house, called Pueblo Alto, archaeologists identified an
enormous mound formed by a pile of old material. Excavations of the
mound revealed deposits containing a surprisingly large number of
broken pots. This finding has been interpreted as evidence that people
gathered at Pueblo Alto for special ceremonies. At the ceremonies, they
ate festive meals and then discarded the pots in which the meals had
been prepared or served. Such ceremonies have been documented for
other Native American cultures.
Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to explain how they
cast doubt on the specific theories discussed in the reading passage.
The passage explains the significant feature of great houses of the settlements of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico in the American South West. Various theories are formulated based on the speculations made by Archaleogists on the usage of such high storied buildings having so many rooms. The lecture explains various reasons which completely refutes the theories explained in the reading passage.
Firstly, the Chaco houses are compared to the present apartment buildings found in Taos, New Mexico where many people lives proving that such houses are used mainly for residential purposes.But the lectures casts doubts on such theory elucidating that large masses of people requires large number of fireplaces and the houses have only few.So this house can never be used by people to stay for residential purposes.
Secondly, the houses were used as store house for food supplies like grain maize. But such large storage would have left some traces of grain maize. But a single maize was not found from the excavation of the houses. Even trees of maize or containers of maize spilled over here and there,no such thing was found to prove the assumption of such houses being used to store maize to be true.
Thirdly, houses were asserted to be used as ceremonial centres as excavation revealed enormous mound located near the Publeto Alto which contained broken pots which suggested that pots used for ceremonies to serve food and then discarded.But such beliefs are limited and excludes the other materials like building contruction supplies consisting of sand, stones, construction tools were found in such piles. These materials might have been left behind at the time of construction of such building or as a part of regular trash but in no way explains the use of such materials in any ceremony.
Thus various reasons, explanations and evidences proved the assertions made by different theories on the usage of Chaco Canyon to be untrue, unreasonable and unreliable.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 191, Rule ID: SENTENCE_WHITESPACE
Message: Add a space between sentences
Suggestion: But
...re used mainly for residential purposes.But the lectures casts doubts on such theor...
^^^
Line 3, column 341, Rule ID: SENTENCE_WHITESPACE
Message: Add a space between sentences
Suggestion: So
...fireplaces and the houses have only few.So this house can never be used by people ...
^^
Line 5, column 288, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma
Suggestion: , no
...ers of maize spilled over here and there,no such thing was found to prove the assum...
^^^
Line 7, column 239, Rule ID: SENTENCE_WHITESPACE
Message: Add a space between sentences
Suggestion: But
...monies to serve food and then discarded.But such beliefs are limited and excludes t...
^^^
Line 9, column 1, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Thus,
...e of such materials in any ceremony. Thus various reasons, explanations and evide...
^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, first, firstly, if, second, secondly, so, then, third, thirdly, thus
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 15.0 10.4613686534 143% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 3.0 5.04856512141 59% => OK
Conjunction : 13.0 7.30242825607 178% => OK
Relative clauses : 7.0 12.0772626932 58% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 5.0 22.412803532 22% => OK
Preposition: 46.0 30.3222958057 152% => OK
Nominalization: 7.0 5.01324503311 140% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1659.0 1373.03311258 121% => OK
No of words: 320.0 270.72406181 118% => OK
Chars per words: 5.184375 5.08290768461 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.22948505376 4.04702891845 105% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.64914306605 2.5805825403 103% => OK
Unique words: 174.0 145.348785872 120% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.54375 0.540411800872 101% => OK
syllable_count: 515.7 419.366225166 123% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.55342163355 103% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 1.0 3.25607064018 31% => OK
Article: 4.0 8.23620309051 49% => OK
Subordination: 0.0 1.25165562914 0% => More adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 4.0 1.51434878587 264% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 0.0 2.5761589404 0% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 11.0 13.0662251656 84% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 29.0 21.2450331126 137% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively long.
Sentence length SD: 117.052506407 49.2860985944 237% => The lengths of sentences changed so frequently.
Chars per sentence: 150.818181818 110.228320801 137% => OK
Words per sentence: 29.0909090909 21.698381199 134% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.63636363636 7.06452816374 94% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.09492273731 122% => OK
Language errors: 5.0 4.19205298013 119% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 3.0 4.33554083885 69% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 3.0 4.45695364238 67% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.27373068433 117% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.162432108926 0.272083759551 60% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0674504031805 0.0996497079465 68% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0725747077802 0.0662205650399 110% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0932594113201 0.162205337803 57% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0449212624466 0.0443174109184 101% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 17.5 13.3589403974 131% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 42.04 53.8541721854 78% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 5.55761589404 158% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 14.6 11.0289183223 132% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.36 12.2367328918 109% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.07 8.42419426049 108% => OK
difficult_words: 81.0 63.6247240618 127% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 15.0 10.7273730684 140% => OK
gunning_fog: 13.6 10.498013245 130% => OK
text_standard: 15.0 11.2008830022 134% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 80.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 24.0 Out of 30
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.